The Best Quest

Major Close Encounter with Whale

Date: July 31, 2018

Approximate GPS Location: (36.49°N, 151.50°E)

The crew witnessed a few fascinating animal encounters this week. Underwater about 30 or 40 feet away, Lecomte saw a long grey figure which he thought was a shark. Fortunately, he noticed a spear-shape on the front of it and it turned out to be a swordfish.

One day there was a huge commotion in the water about 600 ft from the support craft Seeker. Birds were gathered around and as they moved closer they noticed a pod of whales. Crew member Maks jumped in the water and was wide-eyed when he found that he was able to experience a close encounter with a whale!

Three days later there were about a dozen dolphin playing all around the boat. Many of the crew members jumped in the water to get a closer look. Unfortunately, crew member Mark ended up with some nasty jellyfish stings on his shoulders and neck. Fortunately he needed only the minor medical attention of heated sea water followed by flour as first aid.

Last we heard from them, typhoon Wukong was heading into their area. They were forced to pack up operations and move to safer seas. They have GPS tagged the location and will return once the typhoon has left the region.

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The Swim

Ben Lecomte is swimming across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to San Francisco. The distance is 5500 miles and will consist of 8 hours swimming per day for six months. Ben successfully swam across the Atlantic in 1998.

He is escorted by a sailing yacht, Seeker/Discoverer, where he sleeps at night and which is equipped to support him at sea for the 6 months.

He will be swimming across the North Pacific Gyre trash accumulation zone as well as through a great white shark migration zone. The expedition has technology to be able to spot nearby sharks.

His goal is to direct awareness to the harm we are doing to our oceans and opt for more sustainable behavior. During his journey 27 different scientific institutions including NASA and Woods Hole will be conducting research in 8 different subjects related to the ocean and human endurance.